


look after you

by oddeyejinsol



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Dorks in Love, High School AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, flour baby project, nice jock jaehyun, pure fluff, sarcastic nerd doyoung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 12:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19768258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddeyejinsol/pseuds/oddeyejinsol
Summary: It seems that the world is out to get Doyoung, because the teacher says the two words that make his blood run cold: partnered project. He really has to reiterate that he despises Jungwoo.





	look after you

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this as a lil gift for my literal daughter dana bc i love her tons <3333 enjoy this unadulterated fluff

Kim Doyoung is a model student, thank you very much. He’s never gotten a less-than-perfect grade, has never missed a single day of school, has never partied irresponsibly. At least, he  _ had  _ never done any of those things up until the previous semester. Leave it to Kim Jungwoo (no relation, thank fuck) to be the one to single-handedly ruin his life.

Okay, maybe he’s exaggerating a little bit, but Jungwoo has definitely ruined his GPA. He’d convinced Doyoung (read: threw a tantrum and threatened to give Doyoung’s best friend title to Yukhei) to attend his first  — and definitely last, now — house party. Doyoung can’t even recall whose house it was, or most of the details of the night, really. The next thing he remembers after Jungwoo handing him a suspicious red cup is waking up on someone’s couch, mouth tasting like rat poison and head ringing, his legs numb from Mark sleeping soundly on top of them.

By the time Doyoung goes home, lies to his mom about sleeping over at Jungwoo’s, and takes a two-hour-long shower, he realizes far too late that he’s missed his chem final. Despite his perfect record and impassioned speech to his teacher, he gets a big fat F. That’s how he ends up with no choice but to take this stupid health class for extra credit. (He technically did have a choice, but the other option was the chess club, and Doyoung isn’t  _ that  _ boring.)

He’s early to class, as usual, waiting for the rest of the students to arrive and sitting beside the Devil himself. Doyoung had sworn up and down he’d never talk to Jungwoo again, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice, seeing as Jungwoo failed chem and is taking the class too. (And they’re best friends, or whatever.) The difference between them, though, is that Jungwoo didn’t have a shot in hell at passing even if he’d gotten a 100 on the final. He  _ deserves  _ to be here, slaving away for extra credit. Doyoung doesn’t.

“Ooh, look who’s here,” Jungwoo’s gleeful voice drags him out of his pity party. Despite himself, Doyoung glances at the door, and it’s impossible not to recognize that purple letterman jacket, especially with the matching head of lavender hair attached to it.

“Oh, lord,” Doyoung groans, sinking deeper into his chair. It’s Jung Jaehyun, captain of the soccer team, and as usual his best friend / conjoined twin Johnny Seo isn’t far behind. Doyoung cannot believe he’s in the same class as these knucklehead jocks, and for the hundredth time today, he curses Jungwoo and his stupid skills of persuasion.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be taking effect, because Jungwoo is grinning widely. “You’re finally taking a class with him! And all because of me. You should say thank you.”

“Fuck you,” Doyoung mutters, “and besides, we already have a class together. I think.” This last part is added mostly to try and salvage his dignity. He  _ knows  _ they have a class together, because Jaehyun sits right in front of him and Doyoung spends the majority of the hour staring at the back of Jaehyun’s head. He could probably draw every individual hair from memory.

Jungwoo pouts. “Rude! Is Doie mad cause his crush doesn’t know he exists?” Jungwoo barely ducks in time to avoid the pen Doyoung sends flying at him, and thankfully is wise enough to shut up afterwards.

Doyoung does  _ not  _ have a crush on Jaehyun. Sure, he might be the most perfect human being Doyoung’s ever laid eyes on, but that doesn’t mean that he  _ likes  _ him. Just that he has eyes, like everyone else. Jaehyun has the student body wrapped around his little finger, his locker is always overflowing with notes from secret admirers, and like Jungwoo said, he doesn’t know Doyoung exists.

Besides, Jaehyun is dumb as hell. All the jocks are, naturally, but Jaehyun is on a different level. The class they share is maths, and Doyoung has seen him count on his fingers to work out 3 x 8. Which is absolutely tragic and definitely not in the least bit endearing. Doyoung prides himself on his intellect, and it’s obvious they’re worlds apart. 

… Still, it doesn’t mean he can’t  _ look _ . Jaehyun has a really nice smile, the kind that lights up his whole face, and when Johnny says something in his ear he throws his head back and laughs. Doyoung can’t hear it from across the room, but it’s probably stupidly perfect like the rest of him. 

Eventually the teacher walks in and starts writing on the board, so Doyoung reluctantly tears his eyes away from Jaehyun’s grinning face. He opens his notebook and neatly writes the date, ignoring Jungwoo’s scoffing. Yes, this is a bullshit class, but it doesn’t mean he’s not going to work his hardest. He can’t afford to make any more mistakes. 

Unfortunately for him, it seems that the world is out to get him, because the teacher says the two words that make his blood run cold:  _ partnered project.  _ He really has to reiterate that he despises Jungwoo.

Doyoung can only watch in horror as the teacher pulls several bags of flour onto the desk and explains: “You and your partners will have to take care of this bag of flour for the next month. Think of it as your child: you must keep a diary of your activities, carry it around with you, and you can even customize and dress it. The aim of this exercise is to teach responsibility, teamwork, and parenting skills.”

“Parenting skills? What is this,  _ 16 And Pregnant _ ?” Jungwoo whispers loudly. Doyoung has to agree. He didn’t know what to expect from a high school health class, but it certainly was not this. Besides, he already has a cat. Doesn’t that count?

The teacher glares. “Alright, Jungwoo, you can be the first to come pick a partner, since you’re so enthusiastic.”

Jungwoo sighs, but walks up to the front of the class and picks a piece of paper out of the bowl the teacher gives him. He squints, reading the name: “Youngho?”

Johnny waves his hand, and Jungwoo raises his eyebrows at Doyoung before grabbing one of the sacks of flour and heading over to the empty seat on Johnny’s other side.

The teacher continues pairing people off, and practically all the students perk up when he calls Jaehyun to the front. The purple-haired boy strolls up to the front casually, like he doesn’t feel all the eyes on him, and the class waits with bated breath as he fishes around for a slip of paper.

“Doyoung,” he reads out, and he immediately looks over to where Doyoung is sitting. So does everybody else, and Doyoung sinks into his seat a little, flushing at the attention. Jaehyun grabs a sack and heads over to occupy Jungwoo’s empty seat, and when he’s this close Doyoung can tell he smells nice, like fresh cotton. Of course he does. Doyoung’s beginning to get annoyed with Jaehyun’s apparent lack of flaws.

When everybody in the class is paired up, the teacher tells them to take the rest of the class to introduce themselves to their partners and discuss how to split their tasks up. Doyoung steels himself and turns to face Jaehyun. He has a feeling it’s gonna be hard to form sentences while looking directly into that face.

Jaehyun’s smiling gently, almost shyly. “I think we’ve already met. We have maths together, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Doyoung says, caught off guard. He’s very sure he’s never spoken to Jaehyun — there’s no way he’d forget even the most insignificant exchange between them. He’s so used to just looking at him from afar, like an untouchable work of art, and it’s strange to think that Jaehyun can actually see him back.

“Cool. Well, ah, I’m Jaehyun,” says Jaehyun.

Doyoung stares. “I … know that.”

“Right.” Jaehyun’s cheeks tinge pink slightly. “Um, so. What should we name it?”

“You really want to name it?” Doyoung says incredulously, still having a bit of a hard time taking this seriously.

Jaehyun gives a one-shouldered shrug. “I mean, we have to write a diary about it, right? It’ll be awkward to do that without a name.”

Doyoung considers. “That’s true. Okay, let’s just call it Baby, then.” He writes it down in his notebook, underlines it, and when he looks up Jaehyun’s brow is furrowed a little. Doyoung doesn’t want to entertain this, but Jaehyun’s little frown looks so sad, so he asks, “did you have a name in mind?”

Jaehyun thinks for a moment. “Dana?”

“Oh, so it’s a girl?” 

“Doesn’t she look like one?”

Doyoung glances at the sack of flour, which just looks like a sack of flour, but Jaehyun looks so hopeful that he says “sure, yeah”, crosses out  _ Baby _ , replaces it with  _ Dana. _ The smile Jaehyun gives him makes it worth it, how ridiculous this all feels. 

They spend the rest of the hour working out a schedule (like divorced parents, Doyoung thinks) and they exchange numbers just in case. When Doyoung looks at his contact list afterwards, he sees Jaehyun’s added emojis beside his name: a smiley face, a soccer ball, a baby. Doyoung hates emojis, thinks they’re annoying, but he can’t bring himself to delete them. 

When the bell rings, Johnny waves Jaehyun over from the other side of the classroom. Jaehyun gives Doyoung a small grin before grabbing Dana (he’s getting her for the first week) and heading over to his friend, without a single look back as they head out into the hall together. Doyoung pretends his heart doesn’t deflate a little as he packs up his stuff. Back to being invisible. He should be used to it by now. 

Jungwoo is waiting for him outside the classroom, carelessly holding his flour baby in one hand and eating a cereal bar with the other. 

“So?” Jungwoo waggles his eyebrows obnoxiously. Doyoung ignores him and begins a brisk pace down the hall, leaving Jungwoo stumbling to keep up. 

“Hey, slow down! We have a baby on board,” Jungwoo says, waving the sack around. Doyoung looks closer and sees that Jungwoo has already drawn an evil-looking grin on it and printed its name in neat letters across the forehead: SNOOPY!

“You’re so weird,” Doyoung says, amused despite himself. 

“You love it,” Jungwoo says, smacking a noisy kiss onto Doyoung’s cheek. Doyoung elbows him sharply, and it would have turned into one of their usual scuffles if Doyoung hadn’t spotted a familiar letterman jacket and abruptly turned the corner. No offence to Jungwoo, but he’s kind of like a childhood stuffed animal; you love it dearly, but still, you don’t want your crush to see you with it. 

(Did he say crush? Shit.)

* * *

For the first week, it’s complete radio silence from Jaehyun. Doyoung wonders if he got the wrong number, but Jaehyun responds to his text to verify, using a bunch of emojis again. Still, he doesn’t send anything else, and it’s making Doyoung more than a little nervous. 

“Are you checking your texts  _ again _ ?” Jungwoo asks one day at lunch, annoyed. “Looking at your empty chat every five minutes isn’t going to make him text you, you know.”

“Who?” asks Mark, ever curious. Doyoung is about to change the subject, but of course Jungwoo beats him to it: “Jaehyun, duh!”

Mark chokes on his french fry. Yukhei helps him, dislodging the offending food with a thump to Mark’s back, which sounds like it hurts more than the choking. While Mark’s recovering his breath, Yukhei asks, “ _ Jung  _ Jaehyun? Why would he text you, Doyoung?”

Doyoung knows Yukhei doesn’t mean it like that, but still, it stings. He knows Jaehyun is completely out of his league in every possible way. He really doesn’t need reminders. 

“We have a project together,” Doyoung says, a little sharper than necessary. “I’m just worried he’s going to slack off as usual and drag my grade down with him. So yes, I’m checking my texts because he hasn’t said a thing to me since this project started and I’m beginning to worry he’s forgotten about it.”

His friends nod sympathetically, and Jungwoo rolls his eyes. “Tell me about it! I’m paired with Johnny, and I swear those two only have one shared brain cell between them.” He launches into a rant about how Johnny almost forgot their baby on the bus, thankfully ending Doyoung’s interrogation. 

It turns out that his worries were completely unfounded. Next class, Jaehyun shows up with Dana still in one piece, and even Doyoung is slightly amazed at the amount of work he’s put into the diary. There are four entries already, detailing how he took Dana to soccer practice and grocery shopping, and he even printed out a picture of her sitting at the dinner table with his family. His handwriting is scratchy but it looks like he’s made an effort to be neat, and Doyoung can’t help but imagine him scribbling at his desk, sticking his tongue out like he does when he’s concentrating. 

“Jaehyun, this is great,” he says, completely genuinely, and it’s not fair what Jaehyun’s responding smile does to him. 

“Really?” Jaehyun asks, hopeful. “I almost got her one of our soccer team onesies, the ones they make for babies, but I thought it might be too much …”

The visual of Jaehyun poring over clothing sizes at the school shop is so cute it makes Doyoung want to cry. “No, that sounds really nice,” he assures, and Jaehyun nods enthusiastically. 

“Okay! I’ll get one next week,” he promises. Doyoung writes it down:  _ Soccer onesie for Dana.  _

“Why do you do that?” Jaehyun asks, curious. “Write everything down.”

The question catches Doyoung off guard. “Uh, just so I remember, I guess. It helps me keep things in order.”

“You’re smart, you probably don’t need to do that,” Jaehyun says earnestly. 

Doyoung snorts. “Who says I’m smart?”

Jaehyun looks down, coughs. “Just a guess. I mean, you never look confused in math, and I always am.”

Doyoung is wondering how Jaehyun even knows that, seeing as Jaehyun sits in front of him, but his thoughts are interrupted by the teacher clapping loudly. He instructs them to find another pair and compare how they’re doing so far. 

It’s no surprise that Jungwoo and Johnny make a beeline for them, Johnny knocking shoulders easily with Jaehyun as he sits down. It’s quite fascinating how the same purple jacket gives Doyoung butterflies when Jaehyun’s wearing it, but only inspires mild irritation on Johnny. 

(Doyoung doesn’t  _ dislike  _ Johnny. He’s not rude like most of the jocks, and he must be a good person if Jaehyun’s such good friends with him. It’s just that whenever he’s around, he’s the main focus of Jaehyun’s attention, and Doyoung guesses he’s just gotten a little too used to the feeling of looking at Jaehyun and seeing those warm eyes looking back at him.)

Doyoung soothes his dignity and feeds his competitive streak by comparing their projects: Snoopy already has a rip in the fabric, held closed with a band-aid, and their diary is completely blank. Even though it’s just a stupid project, an easy A for extra credit, he’s proud of himself and Jaehyun. 

While Johnny and Jaehyun discuss tactics for their upcoming game, Jungwoo leans across the table and pops his gum at Doyoung. “So. How is the nuclear family going?”

“I mean, my child is still unharmed,” Doyoung says, looking pointedly at Snoopy. 

“Oh, he’s just having fun. That’s from when Johnny and I played hot potato with him.” Jungwoo grins. “Honestly, he’s pretty cool. Not as bigheaded as I thought, and he's actually fun to hang with.”

Doyoung smiles, but it’s a little forced. He envies Jungwoo, sometimes, the way he can get along with anyone, flitting around people like a social butterfly. It’s not as easy for Doyoung, who always comes off a little too tight, a little too cold. His hard exterior makes people not want to look further, which he supposes is his own fault, but he wishes someone would try. 

The bell rings, and while they’re packing up Johnny nudges Jungwoo. “Dude, we should totally take Snoopy to the game this Saturday.”

Jungwoo lights up. “Hell yeah! That’ll be such a good diary entry. Take that, Doie.” He sticks his tongue out. 

Johnny clicks his tongue. “Jae, don’t be rude. Invite your co-parent.”

Jaehyun flushes. “Oh! Yeah, Doyoung, you should come. And bring Dana, of course.”

“Of course,” says Doyoung, trying to keep the acid out of his tone. It’s obvious Jaehyun doesn’t want him there, probably wouldn’t even be giving him the time of day if it weren’t for this project. Just … it doesn’t feel like that when Jaehyun looks at him, wide and earnest, like nothing else exists. 

Although he wants nothing more than to sulk alone all weekend, he has to admit the game is a good opportunity for Dana’s diary. Also, Jungwoo would never let him hear the end of it if he didn’t come, so Saturday finds him sitting in the bleachers with Dana in his lap, dressed in their team colors. Jungwoo’s sat beside him with his own flour baby, which continues to look worse for the wear every day. 

“Does Snoopy look a little smaller to you?” Doyoung asks dubiously. 

“He has a leak,” Jungwoo says sadly. “Look, that’s why he’s wearing this diaper.” He points out the ratty-looking scrap of fabric tied around Snoopy’s middle. 

“Please don’t ever have an actual baby,” Doyoung says, only half-jokingly, and Jungwoo’s response is drowned out by the roar of the crowd as the teams make their way onto the field. 

Doyoung has never seen Jaehyun in his soccer uniform before, and he’s glad he’s already sitting down because it makes his knees a little weak. He just looks so good in it, but then again, he’d probably look good in a garbage bag. His skin is honey in the blazing sunlight, his hair shines like silk, and at this point it’s just ridiculous to pretend that Doyoung isn’t hopelessly crushing on him. 

Even though they’re sitting quite high up, Jaehyun’s lavender hair makes it easy to keep an eye on him as the game begins. Doyoung doesn’t know a thing about soccer, but it’s easy to see why Jaehyun is the team captain: he’s fast and graceful on the field, almost like he’s dancing, and he leads his team well. Still, the other team is no joke either, and the game is a real nail-biter. Doyoung finds himself actually getting invested, cheering loudly with Jungwoo when their team scores and booing when the other one does. 

The game is almost over, they’re tied 2-2, and Jaehyun is posted on the outskirts of the field, looking out at the bleachers. His eyes meet Doyoung’s, who’s obviously already staring, and Doyoung feels heat rise to his cheeks at being locked in Jaehyun’s gaze. He wants to look away, but then Jaehyun gives him the most brilliant smile and a little wave, and Doyoung actually feels like he’s flying. 

Until the ball appears out of nowhere and slams right into the side of Jaehyun’s face, sending him reeling onto the ground. 

A collective gasp rises from the crowd and Doyoung’s hands fly to his mouth. Jaehyun’s team members are on him in an instant, rushing to help him to his feet, except for Johnny, who instantly begins arguing viciously with the other team captain. They're about to call a time-out, but it looks like Jaehyun insists against it, because he heads off the field by himself and they call one of the reserve players to replace him. 

When the game starts back up again, Doyoung rushes to his feet. He almost hands Dana to Jungwoo, takes another look at poor Snoopy, and decides to just take her with him. He weaves his way through the crowd, out of the bleachers, and finds the locker room. 

The door swings open to reveal Jaehyun sitting on a bench, holding a cold pack to his face and wincing. His expression lights up when he sees Doyoung, though, and it makes Doyoung’s heart flutter stupidly hard. 

“Dana was worried about you,” he says by way of excuse, holding her up. Jaehyun grins, then grimaces at the way it makes his face hurt. 

Doyoung sits beside him, careful. Jaehyun turns to look at him, handsome even when sweaty and injured, and asks, “how bad is it?”

He moves the pack slightly so that Doyoung can see. It’s fine now, a little red, but Doyoung can already see the angry bruise that’s developing. “Pretty bad, but you’ll live,” he says. 

Jaehyun laughs. “Thanks for the honesty. It’ll probably look nastier than it actually is. I’ve had worse.”

“Sorry for distracting you,” Doyoung says. It’s a little bold to assume that that’s what happened, but by the way Jaehyun flushes and looks away, he’s right. 

“I was just surprised to see you,” Jaehyun explains. “I didn’t think you’d really come. But I’m glad you did.”

Doyoung swallows, throat dry suddenly. “Yeah,” he says dumbly. 

Jaehyun catches his eye again. “Thanks for coming to check on me, too. You really didn’t have to, though. I don’t want to keep you from your boyfriend.”

Doyoung blanches. “From my what?”

“Jungwoo?” Jaehyun asks, unsure. “Aren’t you two dating?”

Doyoung physically shudders. “Oh my god,  _ no _ . Just … no. Don’t ever say that again, even as a joke. Jesus, no, we’re not dating.”

“Harsh,” Jaehyun says, but he’s smiling, and maybe it’s wishful thinking but Doyoung thinks he looks a little relieved. 

“I mean, he’s my best friend, but  _ no _ . Like, would you date Johnny?”

Jaehyun wrinkles his nose at the thought, and as if they’ve summoned him, Johnny himself barges through the locker room door. “Jung, you stupid motherf…” he trails off. “Oh, hey Doyoung.”

“Hi,” Doyoung says, rising to his feet and grabbing Dana. “I should probably get back.”

“See you after the game,” Jaehyun calls after him as he leaves. 

He doesn’t, though. Despite Jaehyun being benched for the rest of the game, their team still wins by one point and the team goes out for a celebratory dinner afterwards. Doyoung doesn’t get to see Jaehyun till the next day at school, when the bruise has started to blossom across the right side of his face like a deadly flower. 

(But during their team celebrations on the field, when someone lifts Jaehyun into the air, his gaze roves across the bleachers until he finds Doyoung and gives him that wide, bright smile. In that moment, Doyoung almost feels like he’s the one who won.)

* * *

The second week passes without a hitch (Doyoung gracefully omits Jaehyun’s ball incident from the diary). When Doyoung hands Dana back to Jaehyun, it’s a little sad to think that their project is already halfway over. He’s been doing a good job of convincing himself that maybe Jaehyun actually enjoys spending time with him, too, but he’s not an idiot. They’re in different cliques, which in high school might as well mean different planets. Nothing good ever lasts.

This rings especially true when Doyoung is relaxing at home and his phone lights up with a message from Jaehyun. He’s excited for all of three seconds until he actually reads it:  _ i think i killed our baby…  _ crying emoji, sweating emoji, skull emoji, coffin emoji.

Doyoung knows, logically, that they’re talking about a literal sack of flour, but he still feels his heart sink a little. He texts back:  _ wtf do u mean? _

The reply comes back almost as soon as he sends his text.  _ can u come over??  _ It’s followed by an address, walking distance from Doyoung’s house, and Doyoung doesn’t hesitate before taking off, only pausing to put his shoes on the right feet. Any other day he would be over the moon to be heading to Jung Jaehyun’s house, where he eats and sleeps and lives, but right now the most prominent thing he feels is dread.

He only manages two knocks before Jaehyun flings the door open, and he barely manages to stop himself from knocking right on Jaehyun’s face. The bruise across his cheekbone is probably at its worst stage right now, purple and mottled. Still, he manages to look breathtaking as always, his hair floppy across his face and drowning in a large sweater. 

“Come in,” he says, voice tinged with anxiety, and leads Doyoung into the kitchen. There’s a big chocolate cake sitting in the middle of the counter, and the air still smells faintly of cocoa. 

“Where’s Dana?” Doyoung asks. 

Jaehyun looks miserable. “In there,” he says, nodding towards the cake. 

Doyoung’s mouth drops open as he understands. “Jaehyun, you didn’t!”

“I didn’t!” Jaehyun insists. “I just left her on the table while I showered and my mom wanted to make a cake, so …” he trails off, and he looks so upset that it pushes all thoughts of their grade out of Doyoung’s mind. 

“Hey, it’s alright,” he says as reassuringly as he can. “We can go buy another one, the teacher won’t even be able to tell the difference.”

“But it won’t be her,” Jaehyun says, sadly, and  _ god _ he’s so cute, Doyoung just wants to wrap him in a blanket. 

“Right, but it’s okay, it can be her successor. Dana Two. And the original Dana will be watching over her. She wouldn’t want us to fail this class, right?” Doyoung says, aware of how dumb he sounds, but right now comforting Jaehyun is his priority. 

Jaehyun nods unconvincingly. “Right … okay, let’s go to the supermarket then.”

Thankfully he cheers up when they get there, busying himself with closely examining all the bags of flour before choosing the one that he deems to be the most similar to Dana. They baptize her with sparkling water samples in the grocery aisle, and Jaehyun even buys her a baby-sized hat so she won’t be mistaken for regular flour again. 

When they finally get back to Jaehyun’s house, settling Dana Two into her new home, they’re both hungry. Doyoung voices this, and both of them look at the cake in almost perfect unison. 

“We shouldn’t,” Jaehyun says, although it sounds more like a question. “I mean, she’s in there.”

“But we can’t let her go to waste,” Doyoung argues. “This is what she would have wanted.” In reality, he has no idea what she would have wanted — all he knows is that the cake smells delicious and he doesn’t want to leave just yet. 

Jaehyun caves instantly, and they end up sitting beside each other on the couch, stuffing their faces with cake. It’s delicious, as is the little spark Doyoung feels whenever his knee brushes against Jaehyun’s. 

“I wonder what Mr. Moon would think if he knew we were cannibalizing our child,” Doyoung comments, and Jaehyun laughs with a mouth full of cake. 

“Let’s not put that one in the diary, yeah?” he says after swallowing, and then they fall into a comfortable silence. Doyoung is the first to break it. 

“I’m glad we’re partners,” he says, and instantly flushed at how uncomfortably sincere it sounds. He hastens to add, “I think we work well together.”

Jaehyun’s cheeks are pink. “Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Jaehyun pushes a piece of cake around his plate. “I … kind of cheated. I saw your name through the other side of the paper and I picked it on purpose.”

Doyoung almost drops his plate. “What? Why?”

He can see that Jaehyun misinterprets his shocked tone, and he kind of shrinks into the couch. “No reason,” he says, quickly, but Doyoung isn’t having that. 

He doesn’t know what comes over him — maybe he’s emboldened by how flustered Jaehyun seems, maybe it’s Dana’s spirit working through him — but he doesn’t think twice before putting his plate aside and leaning over to kiss Jaehyun firmly. 

For a single, horrifying second, Jaehyun doesn’t respond, and then he’s hesitantly kissing Doyoung back. It’s an awkward angle and they’re both nervous, so it isn’t the best kiss by any means, but Doyoung swears his heart is thumping right out of his chest. He brings a hand up to cup Jaehyun’s face, realizing too late that he’s pressing on the bruise when Jaehyun lets out a small hiss. 

He pulls back, panic coursing through him. “Shit, I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have—”

Jaehyun makes an impatient sort of noise and tugs him into another kiss, deeper this time, and Doyoung kind of half-falls into his lap. He tastes like chocolate but he smells like  _ him _ , fresh and clean and soothing. It’s perfect.  _ He’s  _ perfect.

When they pull back for air, Jaehyun holds Doyoung in place by the waist, eyes sparkling. “I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time,” he breathes.

Doyoung nearly topples off his lap. “ _ What?!  _ Since when?” The idea that Jung fucking Jaehyun has been pining over him is almost as exhilarating as kissing him.

“Since I first saw you in math class, I think,” Jaehyun admits, and Doyoung is going to kill them both for being so oblivious. He adds, shyly, “I just thought you were kind of out of my league.”

“Oh, shut up,” Doyoung says, but it’s fond, and Jaehyun mimes zipping his lips shut before giving Doyoung that beautiful smile, so wide that his dimples pop out. Doyoung can’t stop himself from kissing him again. It’s like asking a sunflower not to lean into the sun. 

* * *

When it’s time to hand in Dana Two and their diary, Doyoung feels a little sad, but not as much as he’d expected. Maybe it’s because he’s not attached to her as much as the original, or maybe it’s because he knows now that he doesn’t have to give Jaehyun back too. 

It only takes Johnny one glance at them during their last class, chairs angled towards each other and ankles locked, to exclaim, “fucking finally!” He and Jungwoo share a not-so-subtle high five, and Doyoung sighs internally. He doesn’t think Mr. Moon understands the chaos he’s unleashed by introducing those two to one another. 

The smug smirk Jungwoo’s been wearing since Doyoung and Jaehyun got together is promptly wiped off his face when they get their grades back. “A fucking D-? What the hell!”

“Serves you right for making us take this dumbass class in the first place,” Doyoung sniffs. 

“Also, your baby was barely still in one piece, I’m surprised it’s not an F,” Jaehyun adds, and Doyoung swells with affection. 

Jungwoo frowns. “You’re being mean! I don’t think I like Doyoung’s influence on you.”

“Too bad, cause I do,” Johnny says cheerfully, and Jungwoo pouts, outnumbered. 

“Whatever,” he grumbles. “What did you get, genius?”

Doyoung feels Jaehyun slip his hand into his, and he gives his fingers a squeeze in return. Of course, they got an A+, but that’s not really what he’s talking about when he responds with a smile: “Exactly what I wanted.”


End file.
